WWE.comNikki Bella makes her return to SmackDown on August 23rd’s show. (WWE.com)
John Cena returns to SmackDown Live tonight. The last we saw him, he proposed to his girlfriend Nikki Bella at WrestleMania 33 following a match in which he and Bella fought The Miz and Maryse. So with Cena back on SmackDown Live, does this mean Nikki Bella will return soon as well? Where is she?
After WrestleMania 33, Nikki Bella said that she would be taking some time off due to an injury but would be returning soon. She was dealing with some neck issues before WrestleMania, and she said that although she was cleared to compete in that match with John Cena, she would need to take some time off afterwards.
“I have a slight herniation above where I had surgery,” Bella said in an interview with Between the Ropes. “I just got cleared by my surgeon Wednesday, so I’m good to go….I kind of sprained my neck, and we found out some other stuff is going on, so I’m definitely going to have to take some time to heal that. But I’m cleared. I’m competing at WrestleMania.”
Of course, Nikki Bella had extensive neck surgery in early 2016, and for some time it was thought that she might never be able to get back in the ring. She now has a herniation in her neck near where she had the surgery, but she’s hopeful that it won’t take her out of action permanently.
“Recently I had to get MRIs and CT scans and we realised that I have a slight herniation above where I had surgery, which isn’t good, which means I have to take time off and I have to heal,” Bella told E! News. “And hopefully when that heals, if it does, I can get back in the ring, I pray that it won’t be a long time but, I don’t know, it’s in God’s hands.”
Bella went on to say, though, that she will likely never again perform as a full-time wrestler, which she knew since she returned last year.
“I knew that from that moment that when I make a comeback it that I’d never be a full-time wrestler. And when I came back to the WWE, the WWE knew that,” she told E! News.
After WrestleMania, Bella took to Twitter to say that she will be back.
Bella said in a series of tweets, “This isn’t goodbye, just need time to heal. When the day is right I will be back…Can’t wait for the day I can lace up my kicks throw on my jersey put on my SnapBack & come back home. Until then..Stay Fearless Bella Army!”
The weekend of Money in the Bank 2017, Nikki Bella actually posted a vlog in which she hinted at a possible return in the ladder match, which prompted quite a bit of online speculation. However, it’s clear from watching the video that she was just kidding, and she was busy that night anyway, as she was attending the iHeartRadio Much Music Video Awards.
At this time, then, all we know is that Nikki Bella fully intends to return to the ring as soon as her neck has healed, but we don’t have any sort of timeframe on a comeback.
Speaking of Bellas returning to the ring, what about Brie Bella, Nikki’s sister? Brie just recently gave birth to a baby girl, but she has said that she wants to make a return to the WWE, and she recently has been posting about her workout routine on her YouTube channel. She had previously said that she’d love to come back for SummerSlam 2017, which airs on August 20th.
“I’m giving birth in April so I’d love to make a comeback at SummerSlam if the boss lets me, we’ll see – fingers crossed,” she told Digital Spy. “If I can get in good enough shape that quick… I’d love to do it that quick.”